He Beat Tears of the Kingdom Using One Single Stick — 37 Hours, Parallel-Universe Glitches and a 23‑Hour Boss Fight

Content creator PointCrow spent about 37 hours clearing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom using a single stick as his only weapon for the bulk of the run. By combining save-file manipulation and several glitches, he completed almost all major encounters, though the final sequence requires the Master Sword.

1. Single-stick run
2. How the glitch works
3. Technical hurdles and workarounds
4. Boss fights and outcomes
5. Community and viewer rules
6. Watch the run

Single-stick run

PointCrow attempted a run where Link uses a single physical stick throughout most of Tears of the Kingdom. No other weapons were meant to be used. The run lasted approximately 37 hours in total playtime. In practical terms, the stick was the only armament equipped for the majority of the playthrough, with the notable exception of the game’s scripted final attack.

How the glitch works

The run relies on save-file manipulation that effectively merges two separate playthrough states. First, PointCrow creates a “setup” save where Link gains hearts and stamina and completes the prologue. Then he switches to the restricted save that keeps Link limited to the stick. By pausing during a cutscene and forcing the game to load an auto-save from the other file, the game produces a third save file that combines elements from both.

PointCrow credits ideas that echo older glitch runs in other games; for example, community experiments like pannenkoek2012’s Super Mario 64 runs are often cited when players discuss parallel-universe style glitches. For background, see this reference.

Technical hurdles and workarounds

There were multiple technical blockers. First, the tutorial prologue normally forces Link to take the Master Sword; that would break a strict stick-only rule. However, the prologue Link is coded so weapons do not break, and that property carries over in the fused save. This solves the durability problem because the stick effectively becomes unbreakable under that stored state.

Second, the merged save initially prevented entering shrines and refused to load some areas. To address this, PointCrow started the run on the game’s pre-release 1.0 build and then performed an update midway through to a newer build, which restored access to the problematic areas. Additionally, he used a duplication glitch to stock up on consumables and a clipping glitch to move through parts of the world more quickly.

Boss fights and outcomes

PointCrow cleared most major bosses using the stick. Some fights were extremely long; for instance, the Queen Gibdo encounter took about 23 hours of in-game combat time. The Ganondorf fight was especially tense because the boss has mechanics that drain Link’s hearts as the fight progresses.

Importantly, the game forces the player to use the Master Sword for the final attack on Ganon, so the run is not a 100% pure stick-only completion in the strictest sense. PointCrow reached and defeated the final form of Ganon, but the final scripted attack uses the Master Sword.

Community and viewer rules

During the Twitch stream of the run, PointCrow implemented a rule: for every revival fairy used, he would ban one viewer from chat. Over the course of the event he banned more than 1,000 viewers as part of that rule.

Watch the run

This YouTube video shows the playthrough and many of the key moments described above. The video demonstrates the glitches, boss fights, and the final sequence that requires the Master Sword.